Mamdani and Giuliani shake hands at 9/11 commemoration

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and former Mayor Rudy Giuliani shook hands during the 9/11 commemoration ceremony at Ground Zero, a show of unity after Giuliani called on Mamdani not to attend the memorial.

Giuliani, who was mayor during the Sept. 11 attack, told Newsmax earlier this week, “having lost friends there, and being very close to many of the families, it offends me that he’s coming.”

“Frankly, whatever he’d like to say, he doesn’t agree that Sept. 11 was an Islamic terrorist attack on the United States of America,” Giuliani said in the interview with Newsmax on Sunday.

Giuliani’s criticism was heavily tinged with anti-Muslim sentiment and false claims about Mamdani’s beliefs.

“They have every desire to take us over. This is not, they want to be just another religion, they want to dominate us,” Giuliani said of Muslims. “Mamdani is a clear supporter of that.”

The calls from Giuliani and others urging Mamdani to skip the ceremony stem in part from the mayor’s appointment of Ramzi Kassem, who previously represented a convicted al-Qaeda member whose brother-in-law was among the 19 hijackers who perpetrated the Sept. 11 attack, as the city’s top legal counsel.

The move led some families of 9/11 victims to launch a petition urging Mamdani not to go. The petition claims Mamdani supports people perceived as “dismissive of American institutions or insufficiently critical of extremist ideologies.”

Giuliani, who led New York City when the attacks took place, has touted conspiracy theories tinged with anti-Muslim sentiment about Mamdani in connection with the attacks and said it offended him that the mayor will attend.

In the week leading up to the memorial, some families of 9/11 victims to launch a petition urging Mamdani not to go. The petition claims Mamdani supports people perceived as “dismissive of American institutions or insufficiently critical of extremist ideologies.”

The calls from Giuliani urging Mamdani to skip the ceremony stem in part from the mayor’s appointment of Ramzi Kassem , who previously represented a convicted al-Qaeda member whose brother-in-law was among the 19 hijackers who perpetrated the Sept. 11 attack, as the city’s top legal counsel.

Mamdani has dismissed the calls for him not to attend, saying the focus leading up to Friday’s commemoration should be on the victims of the attack and their families, as well as first responders. He then told reporters he “did not have much more to add” when asked about Giuliani’s comments.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) and others have defended Mamdani from these attacks and said he should be in attendance.

“Division should not prevail over the spirit of unity that brought us together after September 11th,” Hochul said in a post on the social platform X. “On this 25th anniversary, we should honor those we lost by coming together again as New Yorkers and Americans. The Mayor of New York City will be there, as he should be.”

On Tuesday, Mamdani’s office also released records , with the mayor’s fiscal 2027 budget, that show city leaders “lied” about the air quality in Manhattan in the weeks after the attack on the World Trade Center.

“It would be one thing if government had stood alongside survivors and provided them with everything they needed at every step of the way,” Mamdani added, noting that “could not be further” from what occurred.

The released documents include records from Giuliani’s administration who led NYC during the time of the attacks.

When a reporter asked Mamdani about whether Giuliani lied about air quality after Sept. 11, the incumbent mayor said, “I leave it to New Yorkers to make their judgements.”